


The Best Gift In Life (Is Spending Time With You)

by Anonymous



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Party, Cuddling & Snuggling, F/M, Fluff, I couldn't write an x-mas party and not include the divorce scene, Tim and Sasha are in a QPR btw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:01:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28293507
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/
Summary: It was supposed to be a surprise, but Tim couldn’t keep it a secret to save his life. How could he? Every time he so much as looked at Sasha, he would break into the biggest grin humanly possible. Whenever they talked, he couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice. The excitement. The joy. Needless to say, Sasha caught on quickly that something was up.So, yeah, it was supposed to be a surprise, but the fact that maybe the secret was out didn’t bother him that much. After all, any time spent with the actual love of his life, the one and only Sasha James, was time well spent and well enjoyed.
Relationships: Elias Bouchard/Peter Lukas - background, Sasha James/Tim Stoker
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22
Collections: Anonymous





	The Best Gift In Life (Is Spending Time With You)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mygenderfellintoablackhole](https://archiveofourown.org/users/mygenderfellintoablackhole/gifts).



> For my wonderful partner! You asked for Tim/Sasha and I hope this is good enough! I love you!

It was supposed to be a surprise, but Tim couldn’t keep it a secret to save his life. How could he? Every time he so much as looked at Sasha, he would break into the biggest grin humanly possible. Whenever they talked, he couldn’t keep the laughter out of his voice. The excitement. The joy. Needless to say, Sasha caught on quickly that something was up.

So, yeah, it was supposed to be a surprise, but the fact that maybe the secret was out didn’t bother him that much. After all, any time spent with the actual love of his life, the one and only Sasha James, was time well spent and well enjoyed. 

Originally, the plan was that, after the annual Institute Holiday Party, when everyone had a week and a half off, he was going to invite Sasha over and they would spend the entire week and a half together. Their relationship was founded on spontaneous get-togethers so he knew she wouldn’t mind too much, plus he’d already asked what her plans were and she’d said she was going to sit at home eating take out and watching films: something she would still be doing, but this time at Tim’s place, in Tim’s arms. It was flawless. At least until he’d let it slip a bit. No matter.

The plan hadn’t changed too much, but now Sasha was going to get ready at his place and they would drive to the Institute together and then go back to his place once it was over. More time with Sasha was hardly something he’d complain about.

“Psst. Sasha,” he stage whispered to her, leaning from his chair to her desk. 

She turned to him, pretending to look put-upon at being disturbed. However, she couldn’t keep the act up for long. No matter what everyone else at the Institute said, she was just as playful as he was. More even. “What?”

“Are you ready for tonight?” 

“Of course I am. I’ve been ready for ages.” She smiled at him, and he swore it made the whole world brighter. His Sasha was that good.

He returned the smile. “Good. I’ll leave you to your work then.” And he leaned back to his desk. 

The rest of the workday passed uneventfully. Jon wanted him to do some follow up on a statement that was ‘complete rubbish, but we should at least make an effort to look like we gave a decent look into it.’ Everything could mostly be found online, which made it so much easier than normal. A small blessing. A sign that today was a great day.

Five o’clock on the dot, he jumped out of his chair and went to say bye to Jon and Martin. He was excited to spend the day with Sasha, but he wouldn’t forget to say bye to his friends.

Once everything was sorted and Sasha had grabbed her things from her car (they determined they would pick it up another day), they made their way to Tim’s house. His career in publishing had paid well and his house reflected that. All the same, it was simple and down-to-earth, like him.

“Mi casa es su casa,” he said as he opened the door and let them in. Sasha had been here often enough that the introduction wasn’t necessary, but it was fun. 

Smiling, Sasha took his hand and pulled him in as she walked by, dropping her bag by the door.

“I like the decorations.” There was a tree in the corner of the living room with some presents under it, a wreath hanging over the fireplace, some nutcrackers his grandmother had passed on to him, and some other little things here and there. He liked the bright colours and cheer they seemed to bring. 

“Thanks, I put them up last weekend.” He would’ve put them up earlier, but he’d been busy. “My favourite one, though, is this.” And he led her to the archway between the living room and the dining room where there hung some mistletoe. 

She laughed a little when she saw it, but pulled him underneath it and kissed his cheek. 

“Merry almost Christmas,” he said when she pulled away. 

“‘Almost Christmas’ isn’t Christmas.”

“Yeah, but it’s close enough.”

After that, they both went to get ready. Tim had put on a red button-up with his black slacks. And, the most important part, was the novelty tie that Jon had given him a couple of years back. He’d made certain to wear it every year since. 

Sasha, meanwhile, put on a green plaid dress with a red cardigan over it. She looked gorgeous. 

They were a bit early to leave, so they went to Sasha’s favourite little café near the Institute to get some hot chocolate. 

“That,” he said as they were leaving, licking off the chocolate moustache on his upper lip, “was the second-best hot chocolate I’ve ever had.”

“What’s the first?”

“The stuff my dad used to make. No clue what he did to it, but it was the most perfect cup of hot chocolate I’ve ever had.”

“It sounds like it was really good,” Sasha put her hand on his shoulder as she said that. 

“It was.” They left it at that and got back in Tim’s car to drive to the Institute. In theory, they could’ve left it here and walked, but neither wanted to go much further than the car park later that night, especially given how cold it was getting. 

A few people were already there by the time they walked in and more were coming. They’d come at the right time then. 

They met up with Martin who was standing near the back, waiting. 

“Marto! Good to see you!” Tim hugged him. Sasha did the same when Tim pulled away.

“Tim! Sasha! You both look good.”

“You do too. I like that jumper. Is it new?”

Martin shrugged. “Kind of. I got it on sale at the end of last year.”

Sasha nodded approvingly. “Smart choice. It looks really good too.”

Together they waited for Jon to show up. Tim was surprised to learn that he’d left work to go home and get ready. He would’ve thought the man would just stay in his office until it started. Good for him. He cleaned up nicely too.

“Hey, boss!” Tim greeted when he walked over, pulling him in for a hug.

“You don’t need to call me that. We’re not working right now.”

“Nah, it suits you. You’re a good boss.” Tim meant it when he said that. Sure, it was a rough beginning, but now was the time for spreading kindness and goodwill and all that.

They stood and talked for a while before splitting ways. Tim and Sasha went to hang out with some old pals from Research when it happened. 

Elias and some guy they didn’t know had been standing near the stairs the entire night talking to one another. No one had been paying any attention to them. Not until...

“Peter,” Elias said loudly enough that everyone noticed. Tim quickly tapped Sasha’s shoulder to get her attention.

“You’ve embarrassed me at the annual Institute Holiday Party for the last time.” Everyone’s eyes were wide in shock at what was happening. “I. Want. Another. Divorce.”

A hush fell over the crowd. All eyes were on Elias and Peter, his apparently soon-to-be-ex-husband. Jaws dropped, and Tim even thought he heard a wine glass fall.

Peter - Tim assumed it was him at least - was beet red at all the sudden attention. Elias was thriving in it or would be if he was paying attention to anything other than his husband.

Tim and Sasha turned to face one another, identical expressions of shock on their faces. 

“Did he really-?” 

“Divorce?”

“Elias is married???” They cried out at the same time. Well, this was certainly a revelation.

After a few minutes of overall excitement from the event, things went back to normal. Tim even thought he saw Elias and Peter sneak off together, which was certainly something he didn’t want to speculate about. 

Once the big boss left, however, people took it as a cue to start heading out. Sasha was lingering back by the food table, getting a plate of hors d'oeuvres to take with them before they left. He went to meet up with her. 

“Smart idea. I have some snacks at home, but we can never have too many.” Besides, what better way to waste Institute money than to take home food they didn’t?

“We? There’s no ‘we’ in this. If you want some, get your own plate,” she joked. 

Tim pretended to be offended and heartbroken. “My own partner, refusing to share with me. What has the world come to? Is this the end? Two divorces at one party?”

She laughed, squeezing a cream puff so she could dip her finger in the cream and press it onto Tim’s nose. “Never. You’re stuck with me.”

“Like glue,” Tim said, trying to lick the cream off his nose and failing. Sasha grabbed a napkin and wiped it off for him. 

“You ready to go?”

“No, no, give me a minute to get myself a plate too. Wouldn’t want to risk sharing. I’ve seen what kind of mischief you can cause. Who knows how you’ll take revenge on me if I took a biscuit off your plate.”

In response, Sasha picked up one of the aforementioned biscuits and took a bite, wiggling her eyebrows at Tim. 

“The face of a menace, I tell you!” He laughed. 

She held the biscuit in his mouth and pointed at herself to say who? Me? 

He lovingly rolled his eyes and went to fill his plate. 

Once he deemed it properly loaded, he and Sasha walked back to his car. Sasha (who had not had anything to drink that night) drove them back to Tim’s place.

Soon enough, both were sitting on his sofa, curled up watching a movie. 

Well, trying to decide on a movie that was. 

“A Christmas Carol is a classic!”

“So is Elf! Plus it’s funnier. A Christmas Carol used to terrify me when I was a kid.”

“Exactly! Any good movie should scare you.”

“I think that’s the opposite of a good movie, Miss ‘I think Horror is the only genre that matters.’”

“After working at the Institute long as I have, you learn what real horror is, and all those scary movies just become funny.”

“Yeah, but a Christmas Carol isn’t even the funny type of scary. It’s just depressing.”

Sasha rolled her eyes. “Fine, we can watch Elf.”

“Victory!” And Tim went to put it on. Sasha, on the other hand, hoarded the blanket they were sharing for herself. He turned back around to smile when he saw her betrayal. “Thief.” She just laughed at him. 

The movie was on and Sasha pulled the blanket back so Tim could get under with her again. She put her head on his shoulder and he wrapped his arm over her, pulling her close. 

It was perfect like this. Spending time together like this was Tim’s favourite thing in the whole world. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed it, please leave a kudo/comment! They make my day!


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